Do Americans back Trump's takeover of DC police? Here's what a new poll found

Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald on Aug 12, 2025

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Americans are divided over President Donald Trump’s decision to take control of local law enforcement and activate the military in the nation’s capital, according to new polling.

On Aug. 11, Trump announced that his administration would federalize the Metropolitan Police Department under the Home Rule Act, a 1973 law that grants the president emergency police control for a 30-day period.

He also deployed 800 National Guard troops to the city, matching his approach to recent protests in Los Angeles.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” Trump said during a news conference. “This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”

Trump’s DC crime crackdown

In an Aug. 11 YouGov survey, a plurality of respondents, 47%, said they strongly (38%) or somewhat disapprove (9%) of the president’s actions.

A smaller share, 34%, said they strongly (21%) or somewhat approve (13%) of his moves. An additional 20% said they were not sure.

On this question, there were significant partisan differences, with 74% of Republicans saying they approved of Trump’s tactics, while 81% of Democrats said they opposed them. Independents were more divided — with 45% disapproving versus 26% approving.

This partisan rift mirrored a divide in responses from lawmakers.

“President Trump did what he had to do,” Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said in a Newsmax interview. “The Washington, D.C. police force, the judicial system there, they can’t handle this crime. … You have carjackings in the middle of the day, I mean there’s no particular time that’s safer than the other.”

“Let’s be totally clear. Trump’s decision to take over the DC police isn’t about public safety,” Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a post on the social media platform X. “The most violent cities are in Republican states — and there’s no takeover happening there. This is just another attempt to distract from Trump’s corruption and suppress dissent.”

The survey sampled 3,180 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.

Views on crime in the US

Respondents were also asked about their views on crime in U.S. cities, with many signaling concern.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 67%, said they believed crime in major American cities is “a major problem,” while 23% said it is “a minor problem.”

Just 3% said it is not a problem, and 6% said they were not sure.

Here, there was a consensus across the political spectrum, with 90% of Republicans, 63% of independents and 53% of Democrats describing crime in cities as a major issue.

Additionally, respondents were asked if they believed criminal activity was trending upward or downward in recent years.

A plurality said they believed crime rates in U.S. cities have “increased a lot” (37%) or “increased a little” (18%) since 2020.

Twenty percent said they think rates have “decreased a lot” (7%) or “decreased a little” (13%) in the past five years. A further 15% said they’ve remained steady, and 9% said they were not sure.

What the data shows

Despite the widespread view that crime has risen, official data indicates it has actually decreased in recent years.

In fact, nationwide crime fell in every category in 2024, following a spike in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CBS News, citing an FBI report.

The same year, violent crime dropped by 35% in Washington, D.C., reaching a 30-year low, according to the Department of Justice.

Still, Washington’s homicide rate was among the highest of the country’s major cities in 2024, trailing only St. Louis, New Orleans and Detroit, per data from the Center for Public Safety Initiatives at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

And while crime has fallen across the country last year, the U.S. crime rate was higher in 2024 than many other industrialized countries, coming in behind the U.K., Australia, Canada and Germany, according to the World Population Review.

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